# The 22 Best Drone Albums of All Time

> Long tones, slow loops and walls of sustained guitar: from La Monte Young and Éliane Radigue to Earth, Sunn O))) and Kali Malone, these are the records that define drone, from its 1960s roots to today. Pick the one you would leave running.

*By YPB Team · Published November 13, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-22-best-drone-albums-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Monoliths & Dimensions** — score 1000/1000
   Sunn O)))'s 2009 Southern Lord album, which adds brass, strings and a choir to the band's guitar drones.
2. **The Sacrificial Code** — score 862/1000
   Kali Malone's 2019 album of pipe organ compositions, released on iDEAL Recordings.
3. **Earth 2** — score 862/1000
   Earth's 1993 Sub Pop album, three long tracks of slow, distorted guitar subtitled "Special Low Frequency Version".
4. **The Disintegration Loops** — score 689/1000
   William Basinski's 2002-2003 series of decaying tape loops, released in four volumes on his 2062 label.
5. **Depths** — score 611/1000
   Windy & Carl's 1998 Kranky album, long guitar-and-bass pieces from the Michigan duo.
6. **And Their Refinement of the Decline** — score 611/1000
   Stars of the Lid's 2007 Kranky album, the duo's last studio album to date.
7. **October Language** — score 611/1000
   The 2006 debut album by New Orleans duo Belong, released on Carpark Records.
8. **Absolutego** — score 517/1000
   Boris's 1996 debut album, a single hour-long track released on Fangs Anal Satan.
9. **Trilogie de la Mort** — score 517/1000
   Éliane Radigue's three-part ARP synthesizer work, released as a 3-CD set by XI in 1998.
10. **The Black Record** — score 402/1000
   La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's 1969 LP on Edition X, known for its black sleeve.
11. **Deep Listening** — score 402/1000
   A 1989 New Albion album recorded in an underground cistern at Fort Worden, Washington.
12. **Outside the Dream Syndicate** — score 402/1000
   Tony Conrad's 1973 album with the German band Faust, released on Caroline Records.
13. **Ravedeath, 1972** — score 402/1000
   Tim Hecker's 2011 Kranky album, recorded largely on a church pipe organ in Reykjavík.
14. **Black One** — score 402/1000
   Sunn O)))'s 2005 Southern Lord album, with guests including Wrest of Leviathan and Malefic of Xasthur.
15. **Time Machines** — score 0/1000
   A 1998 album by Coil members released under the name Time Machines, four tracks named after psychoactive substances.
16. **Imperial Distortion** — score 0/1000
   Kevin Drumm's 2008 double CD on Hospital Productions, a set of long, quiet drone pieces.
17. **Gave in Rest** — score 0/1000
   Sarah Davachi's 2018 album on Ba Da Bing!, with organ, strings and voice held in long tones.
18. **(No Pussyfooting)** — score 0/1000
   Robert Fripp and Brian Eno's 1973 album, made with two reel-to-reel tape recorders in a loop.
19. **A Young Person's Guide to Kyle Bobby Dunn** — score 0/1000
   Kyle Bobby Dunn's 2010 double album on Low Point, collecting slow pieces made with guitar and strings.
20. **The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid** — score 0/1000
   Stars of the Lid's 2001 double album on Kranky, built from processed guitar, strings and brass.
21. **For Organ and Brass** — score 0/1000
   Ellen Arkbro's 2017 debut album on Subtext, pieces for pipe organ and brass in just intonation.
22. **Grapes from the Estate** — score 0/1000
   Oren Ambarchi's 2004 album on the British label Touch, built around his processed guitar.

Tags: music, classics, experimental, ambient, drone music